Not using Facebook for business yet? Wondering where to start?  Already on Facebook, but not sure if you’ve done everything right? Well look no further.  Bookmark this article.  It will be your comprehensive guide to using Facebook.

By the way, you’re not alone. There are still many business owners and marketers who don’t quite know where to start—they struggle to gain momentum and achieve measurable results from their efforts.

This post is designed to help you understand what Facebook can do for your business and lead you through a step-by-step process for getting started on building a compelling presence and optimizing your Facebook marketing.

STEP 1: Review Your Profile

Most likely, you already have a personal profile. Facebook’s Terms of Use stipulate you’re allowed one account in your own real name. (If you don’t yet have a Facebook account, just go to http://facebook.com and register.)

Next, choose your approach for using your personal profile. It’s entirely a personal choice. You may wish to keep your profile for connecting only with friends you already know and family members. Or, you may wish to blend both your personal and professional worlds.

My recommendation is to use your profile for a mix of both personal for a mix of both personal connecting and professional networking. Regardless of how you choose to use your profile, you’ll want to make use of Friend Lists and adjust your privacy settings so that you control who sees what content. I’ll cover Friend Lists and privacy settings in a moment. First, here are several key areas to review on your profile.

Go to the Edit Profile section of your profile to edit each of these areas:

You can get to the Edit Profile area by first clicking the Info tab, then the edit pencil in the top-right corner. Also, it may help to know that anytime you edit much of this information—such as changing your profile picture, your relationship status, your bio, etc.—a notice goes out to your friends in their News Feeds (unless you

previously adjusted your privacy settings very tightly!).

Remember to click the blue Save Changes button on each section if you make changes!

Hide Your Year of Birth

Under the Basic Information section, I strongly suggest not showing your year of birth as a layer of security.

Update Your Bio

Check to make sure your bio and contact information is the way you want it, ideally in a first-person, conversational tone. I also recommend filling out the “mini bio” section just under your profile picture (click the edit pencil); you get 245 characters and can include links.

Check Your Photo

I recommend having a professional headshot taken. In fact, get several from the same shoot and use them throughout your various social sites for consistency.

In today’s social context, stay away from overly formal photos. Instead go for a relaxed, informal—yet professional—look. Crop your picture to your head and shoulders only; when your thumbnail appears around Facebook, you want it to be recognizable. Also, stay away from using group photos of you and other people. If a potential key contact doesn’t know you yet, he/she won’t know which one is you.

If your profile picture is more than three years old, it’s time for an update. Your goal is to have people come up to you when they meet you in person and say you look exactly like your picture. This actually helps to build trust.

Select Your Relationship Status

Over the years, Facebook has added a few more possible relationship status choices. If, like me, you wish to remain private about this area of your life, select the blank choice and your status won’t be shown at all. There is an area in the privacy settings where you can choose who sees your relationships settings; I have mine set to Friends as I’m happy for my friends to see my relatives, which is the only other information in this section.

Understand How Likes and Interests Work

As you fill out the various books, movies, music, etc., that you like, Facebook will automatically connect you to the related Facebook Page/Community Page for those interests. When you begin to type the word, select from the drop-down:

Grow Your Network

Facebook allows you a maximum of 5,000 friends and I suggest—over time—you look to optimize this maximum. Having key contacts as friends allows you to maintain a more personal connection with them.

For professional networking purposes, proactively seek new friends who may be influential people in your industry and related industries, prospects, media contacts, people you admire, potential collaborators, and so forth. Just be mindful to not overdo the outgoing friend requests in any one session. Facebook views this as potentially spam behavior and you run the risk of your account being deactivated. Twenty requests at a time is a safe number.

To find new people to add, use the Friend Finder, Invite friends by email, and join relevant Groups and Facebook pages. When sending friend requests, always add a personal message.

STEP 2: Make Friend Lists

 

Friend Lists on Facebook allow you to do three things:

• Control which of your friends see what content you publish (see Step 3 on privacy).
• Filter your News Feed stories.
• Control who can see that you’re available on Facebook Chat.

First, you’ll need to make at least one Friend List. Go to Account > Edit Friends:




Then click Create New List:

A pop-up box appears with all of your friends, so give your list a name and select the friends you wish to add. You can have up to 100 lists, with up to 1,000 friends in each list. Friends can be in multiple lists. Nobody knows which list of yours they might be on; this is for your own private use.

NOTE: You can also add Facebook Pages to Friend Lists, which I highly recommend for ease of reading your News Feed!

Suggested Friend Lists might be: Family, Buddies, Colleagues, Clients, Students, Key Contacts, Favorite Facebook Pages, and so on. One of my favorite lists I call Social Media Experts and I source much of my news from this stream.

Filter Your News Feed Stories

On your home page (News Feed page), click the link for Friends and you’ll see your Friend Lists there. You may need to click the “More” button if you have several lists. You can now view your friends and Facebook page activity via these lists.

If you’d like to have your default view be a certain list, here’s a fun trick: Each of your Friend Lists has its own unique URL. Open the one you want to go to first in a new tab (right click), then bookmark that particular URL. Now that will be the default page view that opens.

Control Your Facebook Chat Availability

I’m not a fan of the Facebook Chat feature at all; I keep it turned off almost all the time because it’s just too distracting. But, you may wish to show yourself as being online to a select group of individuals via a Special Friends List!

Click on the very bottom right of your window where it says “Chat.” If you’ve already created your Friend Lists, you’ll see a list pop up. Beside each list, you’ll see a little “slider” that you can turn from green to grey. Green tells your friends in that list you’re online and grey shows you as offline to friends in that list.

To go offline completely, select Options > Go Offline.

STEP 3: Adjust Your Privacy Settings

One of the many questions I’m asked frequently is, “How do I know what is public and what is just between me and the person I’m talking to on Facebook?”  The short answer is simple: the *only* communication that is private between you and another person is email. Otherwise, all your own wall posts, posts on friends’ walls, comments, likes, photos, videos, links, activity on Groups and Pages and likes on external sites are visible to friends, friends of friends or everyone, depending on your privacy settings.

The best way to set your privacy settings is to go for the Custom option:

Click Customize Settings (#2 above) and for each section on the next page, choose whether you want Everyone, Friends of Friends, Friends Only or a Custom setting:

I recommend using a custom setting for “Posts by Me.” That way, your default for any content you publish can be viewable by Friends of Friends except certain lists. You can override the default at any time on the Publisher.

STEP 4: Set Up a Facebook Page

Once you’re happy with the way you’ve chosen to use and configure your profile, it’s time to set up your Business Page, often referred to as a “Fan Page.” Previously, we would join these pages by clicking the “Become a Fan” button; however, Facebook changed this a few months ago to their ubiquitous “Like” button.

With Facebook’s 500 million active users—half of whom log on daily for an average session time of 55 minutes—having an active Facebook page helps gain tremendous visibility for your business and meets your prospects/community where they are. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to “max out” your personal profile first. The time to start a Facebook page is right away!

What You Need to Know About Facebook Pages

• You need to have an account on Facebook in order to create a Facebook page.
• Your Facebook page will be tied to your personal profile as the admin of your Facebook page; however, only you and Facebook know the connection exists.
• You can have an unlimited number of Facebook pages.
• You can have an unlimited number of fans (Facebook users who “Like” your page).
• Facebook Pages are public—anyone can find and view your page whether they are logged into Facebook or not.
• All content posted on your Facebook page gets indexed on Google.
• You can target your posts by location and language.
• You can add applications to your page, including your own custom content—video, rich text, graphics, opt-in box and more.
• You can add additional admins (highly recommended).
• All admins have equal rights to administer your page, including adding and removing other admins (choose with care!).
• You can’t post content on your Facebook page from your personal profile (unless you use an @ tag from your profile and have your settings for that post set to Everyone).
• Select your page title and category carefully as they cannot be changed once set.

Study Other Facebook Pages

To get a sense of what’s possible for your own Facebook page, look at a variety of examples in your own industry and related industries.  

Recommended Six-step Approach to Building Your Facebook Page

#1:  Objective

First, be clear on what your primary purpose is for your Facebook page. Examples include raising brand awareness, enhancing customer service, building your email list, driving traffic back to your blog, building community, etc. You may have multiple objectives, and that’s fine; be sure to prioritize your objectives.

#2:  Design Strategy

Once you’re clear on the objective(s) of your Facebook page, the design needs to reflect that. Say your primary objective is to build your email list. You’ll need to feature at least one opt-in box.

#3: Content Strategy

Ideally, just as with your blog, you’ll have an editorial guide (or content matrix) which includes a plan for publishing a mix of updates, photos, videos, and links. . Use a platform like HootSuite or ObjectiveMarketer to pre-schedule your content. Depending on the nature of your business and your overall objective, for the most part, it’s best to publish a mix of your own content and what I call “OPC” (other people’s content).  Remember your own Facebook Friend Lists!

#4:  Promotion Strategy

Now you’ve built it and need to ensure “they come!” There are many ways to promote your Facebook page inside Facebook, outside Facebook and offline.

#5:  Engagement Strategy

Now you’re starting to gain traction! But you’ll need to allocate resources to ensure your Facebook page is being monitored and moderated—if not always by you, then by your team. If one of your objectives is to enhance customer service, you’ll want to be prompt in responding to fans’ comments and use a personal, approachable tone. BestBuy does a great job of this.

#6:  Conversion Strategy

I usually find the tipping point in social media is between 500-1,000 fans/followers/friends/email subscribers. You’ll start to see measurable results with this size group. You’ll be building trust and loyalty among your fanbase with consistently good content and reliable responses. Now you must have a strategy in place to convert your fanbase to paying clients or customers. Perhaps you’ll offer a special event (live or virtual), coupons, discounts and other incentives to give your fans a strong call to action. The bottom line is to let your fans know exactly what you want them to do. And pace your offers. If you’re hosting live/virtual events, be sure to also use the Facebook Events feature.

By the way, just as soon as you have your first 25 fans, be sure to register your own unique username (sometimes called a “vanity URL”) for your Facebook page at http://facebook.com/username.

That’s it! That’s all you need for now—(1) a profile with a strategy and settings you’re happy with, plus (2) the makings of a robust, active Facebook page.

What else would you like to see covered here? Got ideas of your own for what’s working well on Facebook? Let us know in the comments below!

 

 

The Social Web
The social web is a wonderful place.  One can use it to keep in touch with friends, relatives and business associates near and far.  The social web allows us to see what people in our circle of influence "like" and we can "poke" them.  We know what they "Digg" and what they may find "Delicious."  Applied to business, this is an opportunity to have our customers be our best sales people.

Word of Mouth Advertising
Word of mouth has long been the gold standard for lead generation.   Prior to the social web, word of mouth was a literal concept.  I could only tell people who I talked to directly about a great supplier of a product or service.  Social Media sites and social bookmarking applications are the new word of mouth.  Now our reach has a much greater potential.  When I "like" a company's Facebook page, all my Facebook friends know about it.  This is great news for business...except....

The social Web is a Double-edged Sword
Of course this works both ways.  If I have a negative experience, then word spreads just as wide, just as far and with tremendous velocity.  Businesses, professionals and individuals in the public eye are best advised to monitor cyberspace to know what is being said about them.  Social networks, social bookmarking sites, news sites, media sharing sites and blogs should be monitored to ensure that brands, trademarks and most importantly reputations are not being usurped or tarnished.

Can I opt out?
Some think that by not participating, not having a Facebook page or any social media presence at all that they are safe.  Sadly, they would be wrong.  A choice to not participate does not stop a customer or a competitor from participating on behalf of the bystanders and spreading negative news and views about your brand, product or service.

What can I do?
There are many tools and services available to monitor what is being said about you or your business on-line.  Trackure, Brandseye, TruReputation and Social mention to name a few.  Once you know what is being said, you can develop a strategy to manage it.  Better yet, get out there and lead the conversation. Nurturing a reputation on-line requires time and effort.  The social web has made this investment in time and effort table stakes for doing business in today's connected environment.

WSI consultants are uniquely qualified to help you put together a strategy for building and maintaining a positive reputation on the social web.  For more information on how WSI can help, please contact WSI Ottawa.

Mark your calendars for August 18.

WSI is conducting a special webinar on how you can drive more business for your company using local search marketing tactics.

Local searchers are ready to buy. They are searching online looking for the product / service they need and a reputable company to purchase from. Much like how advertisers are moving their marketing dollars from the Yellow Pages to the web, consumers are moving their searches from the Yellow Pages to the Web as well.

In this webinar, you will learn how your business can increase your online visibility through several effective local search marketing techniques to ensure you appear right as customers are looking to purchase your product or service. Make plans to join us for this webinar. Registration details are below.

UK/European Market:

Topic: Driving Business with Local Search

Date: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM BST

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/437593984

North American Market:

Topic: Driving Business with Local Search

Date: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/288935664

Note: You will need to put my name, WSIOTTAWA  to complete the registration. This will allow me to keep you updated on any new events or webinars coming up.

FORWARD TO A FRIEND: If you know anyone who might be interested in this webinar, please feel free to forward my invitation on to them.

If you have any questions about this webinar, feel free to give me a call.

Regards,

Wsi Ottawa Team

These days most professional search engine marketers all have access to the most common research tools.
For this article, we’ll explore one of my favorite research tools, Wordtracker.com.

But before we get started, have you ever wondered why some people experience limitations initially in performing effective keyword research? What are the most common elements can that block some people from doing fast and effective keyword research? Why can’t some people find the best results as quickly as others?

Let’s talk about this first. Then I’ll share some quick and easy “how to” tips that I hope will help you.

A few years ago, I wrote an e-book called, Wordtracker Magic and I’ve spent time helping to teach students about how to quickly tap into the best keyword phrase trends and niches very quickly. Let’s start by outlining a couple of the more common errors some people can make initially, when first using Wordtracker. For a while, I actually had the privilege of working with Wordtracker support and answering peoples keyword related questions on a regular basis, a few years ago. That was a great learning experience.

What I learned was that often, people were sometimes not finding the best niche phrases available, simply because many people naturally tended to want to “guess” at keywords, rather than fully explore the existing fresh data.

Some people say and use the word “research,” but then tend to want to rely on their own “logic” or recent real world experience to examine specific phrases. In short, whether we admit it or not, there is a tendency for some of us to “guess at the keywords” that we *think* that make the most sense, but at the same time we miss a wealth of information in the process of having such a narrow focus.

First tip: Stop guessing at what keyword phrases people “might” be entering into the search box.

One of the biggest blocks to the process of exploring the fullness of Wordtracker’s available data, is simply that most people naturally tend to guess at keywords, rather than explore all of the data. Many Wordtracker users start out with the idea of trying to dictate to the tool, which keywords that they ***THINK*** are most relevant. But the truth is every time we guess at the terms that make the most sense, we are not really letting Wordtracker reveal its best information.

Think about the process more in this way….The more you “think like everyone else thinks” (usually drawing keywords that are already lodged into your mind based upon your experiences)….then the more you will be thinking like the rest of your competition. The more our eyes and our thinking and our ability to observe is attracted towards keywords that “make the most sense” to our brains the more we tend to discover exactly the same keywords as the rest of the world are discovering. So we can get disappointed real quick and have the feeling that there just are no real “niche phrases” available anymore. In this mindset, we only find limited results based on logical guess work.

What this usually means, is huge numbers of competing pages all trying to rank for deadly dull, obvious phrases.

Of course you can build your skills so you can compete with highly competitive phrases and you can win the game too, but that’s not the point. A much wiser approach is to learn how to “think differently” in order to allow yourself the ability to explore the data that 99% of your competition never will see or find.

Why not tap into important keyword phrases that are legitimate (with fair to high usage but that have MUCH lower competition because most competitors never even find it or often they never even see it?

The focus of genuine keyword research is not to guess at keywords, but to learn how to quickly explore the best data, OTHER than the common logical keywords that are already lodged into our minds.

Second Tip: Stop relying on allowing your “logic” and your “experience” to dictate how you will explore data.

This is easy to say but in the beginning it takes a little practice to do.

Sometimes when you research single keywords using Wordtracker’s powerful comprehensive search functionality, you will discover multiple instances of how a specific word is being used within a phrase, but without any guess work at all. Try working with a single, action related “root word.”

Now listen carefully. It does not have to be a word that your logical thinking dictates. For example, what happens if you research a term in its most generic form and let Wordtracker piece together exactly how that word is being used. This is one of the rare times when using human brilliance or natural logic can actually prevent you from seeing the most powerful truths in your process of research. By avoiding “logic” you will explore more legitimate working data than 99% of most other Webmasters ever do.

Let’s give you a few creative examples to get you started…..

1. If you are a real estate agent, instead of using an obvious logical phrase like “real estate” (with 323 million competing pages on Google) or using a keyword acronym such as MLS (over 40 million competing pages on Google.)

Let’s try a researching a single “root word” term like “listing” just all by itself…..leaving Wordtracker to do the hard part.

Here are a few examples which I grabbed in under 3 minutes of Wordtracker research:
(each example here with under 1000 competing pages)

At the time of writing this article…..

“house listings parry sound” – Currently only has 90 competing pages for this exact phrase.
“Wyoming MN home listings” – Currently only has 197 competing pages for this exact phrase.
“michigan real estate listing” – Currently only has 197 competing pages for this exact phrase.
“Wisconsin Home listings” – Currently only has 697 competing pages for this exact phrase.
“Central Virginia land listings” – Currently only has 95 competing pages for this exact phrase.
“north oaks minnesota home listings” – Currently only has 233 competing pages for this exact phrase.

2. If you are an affiliate marketer.

Instead of researching the exact product you want to explore in a phrase (for example “candlestick holders,”) try using a single word like “holder” to determine exactly what type of “holders” are in highest demand with lowest competition.
You may discover many other products with much better windows of opportunity.

Examples using a root word of “holder”….(my research time here was 90 seconds – each phrase under 10 competing)

“motorcycle wheel holders” KEI 676.0 Competing pages on Google 1
” southwest pot holders” KEI 768.0 Competing pages on Google 3
“hanging vine holder” KEI 924.5 Competing pages on Google 2
” folbe fishing rod holder” KEI 1156.0 Competing pages on Google 9
” .30 Remington shell holder” KEI 1444.0 Competing pages on Google 1

3. Try working with descriptive verbs.
Instead of researching a specific product using comprehensive search, try researching descriptive verbs like “new” or “old” or “rare” or “limited” or “reconditioned” or “polished” or “bronzed” or whatever…? Try using any type of descriptive terms to explore all kinds of interesting data.

4. Did you know there are differences between the written word and spoken dialogue?

Instead of researching common descriptive terms, try exploring natural sounding “dialogue.” Try to remember to explore “words” based on dialogue, not just on written copy. Your customers often will say things to you in their dialogue that give you a great starting place to explore data.

5. Don’t forget to research and explore the world of color.
What happens if you enter a single term representing a color like “red,” or “aqua” or green or any color?

6. Explore any type of data at all in terms of a root word.

Don’t forget to explore everything and anything that comes to mind. From a topic you notice on the news to something that may not even be a word at all. What happens if you try to explore a number or a price like $9.95 instead of a word?

7. Instead of just thinking of your research as “keywords” try thinking in terms of your audience’s “topics of interest.”

8. Instead of researching keyword phrases try watching for “behavioural trends” or keywords that “tell a story.”

Examples of keywords that are telling:
“miniature doll instructions” KEI 961.0
“golf swing instruction dvds” KEI 1741.0
“how to build secret compartments” KEI 280.3
“building a basement in your home” KEI 512.0
“easy build shed kit” KEI 520.0
“How to Build an Icehouse” KEI 661.0
“build a reptile rack” KEI 676.0
“how to build military bunkers out of sand bags” KEI 729.0
“how to build custom furniture” KEI 1444.0

9. Consider any type of tools that you might research using terms like “calculator” or “maps” or “directions.”

10. Consider exploring topics related to specific seasons, which may be appropriate for your Web audience.

11. Consider exploring common acronyms (related to your industry) to open up more “unexplored data.”

12. Try to discover and satisfy the searcher by delivering up highly valuable content that meets their needs first.
Make your objectives come second and give the searcher what they are looking for first based upon your research.

13. What if you are feeling stumped…about keyword research? Try a reverse approach. If you feel challenged because the keyword you’re researching seems to have no potential, try and explore your audience’s “searching behaviour” first to see what else they want or need based on the conditions, then create the exact high quality content that they’re looking for.

Examples:
Instead of common terms like “Web design” try to chunk it down to the services or special aspects you offer as a designer. You might try root words like “database” or “content” or other aspects that you offer in your services.

14. Develop your lateral thinking skills to press beyond a keyword hunt mindsest.
While most people are thinking about what keywords to use, try to expand your scope to focus on discovering the fullest possible picture of what your customer REALLY wants, what they really are doing, by simply studying their searching behavior on the major search engines.

15. Don’t forget to explore the most common, everyday type single terms that most people will assume have no potential.

Example: From exploring a boring sounding word like “word”….in 90 seconds I found:
“free wedding program word template” KEI 289.1 1 competing page in Google
“Words to a Spanish Song” KEI 462.3 4 competing words in Google
“What Does the Word Hinder Mean” KEI 841.0 4 competing pages in Google
“WORD TRIVIA QUIZZES” KEI 5712.0 10 competing pages in Google
“Words That End with Letter Q” KEI 53,730.0 10 competing pages in Google

Is there any greater discovery than having an understanding of a target audience’s “search behavior”?

Best described, if you are researching your data well, it’s like a light coming on in your mind. It’s like flipping a switch on to an huge “idea generator!” Truly it is like looking through a porthole on the world’s searching behavior.

Wordtracker will give you absolutely AMAZING detail if you take time to think about it laterally and outside of the context of just a “keyword hunt.” Don’t let the natural tendency to “guess at keywords” stop you from exploring all of the hidden evidence that just needs a little practice to uncover. I never get tired of exploring behaviorally related trends that are easy to gather like “low hanging fruit.”
Have you checked out Wordtracker’s Academy for more articles?
Would you like to check out an alternative Niche Finding Tool?
Watch the short little video of Micro Niche Finder now.
Would you like a Free SEO Tip of the Day?

To get quality targeted traffic to your website, blog or online profile can only mean one thing…more business leads or sales. More targeted traffic to your website or blog means that there are more people who can read, view and learn about the services and products that you have to offer. SMM (Social Media Marketing) is a great way to increase the readership of your blog and to drive more traffic to your website.

The online world has changed our methods of doing things in the last couple of years. What most likely took a phone call a few years ago, can now be done online instantly as a wealth of information is available to everyone at any time. The internet is the greatest and biggest marketplace in the world. Businesses starting out as well as large global businesses needs to have a presence on the web.

How can your business start with social media?

Social media marketing is all about trust and relationships and businesses needs to build trust by offering value and interacting with people. This doesn’t mean it should be a one way conversation but rather a discussion. How do you start with this exciting online marketing trend?

Targeting: Blogs, social networks, wiki’s, forums and other social media channels are usually specific on a particular subject. There are thousands of different social media websites and tools available with new ones created everyday. Be active and participate on the networks related to your market niche as these are the ones that your targeted customers spends their time.

Participate: Be part of the community and participate actively. You can become known by interacting with others. Post regularly and become involved. If you really don’t have time to dedicate to this, find someone else in your organization that will take this on. It takes time and dedication to build solid business relationships with social media.

Blogging: My favourite. Blogging is an essential part of social media and some believe the social media trend started with it. You can write interesting topics that your ideal targeted customer will be interested in. If what you write is important, original and fresh, you will attract both the attention from readers and other bloggers that will link to your blog posts.

Link building: Links from other blogs and social media channels are very valuable in building your organic search engine rankings. Informative and original blog posts will serve as link-bait which will drive your search engine rankings higher.

Build authority: By interacting and participating on blogs, forums and other social media channels, you will build a reputation as an expert in your market and niche. It’s a fact that people like to do business with other people that they know and that they trust.

There is really no correct way to start with SMM (social media marketing) for your business. The key is network with other people and to get involved. This can pay dividends to your company with new prospects and increased targeted traffic.

Join WSI for a free webinar entitled "Surf or Turf through Search and Social".